Dark Beginnings
by McClayre
Summary: "Perhaps it is time you gave her answers." He stepped closer to the dark haired woman, towering over her small form. "And where would I begin? How would I undo the damage of the stories she's been told?" She leaned back to look him in the eye. "With love; the knowledge that you loved me and I you." His eyes glistened, "And we her."
1. Prologue

**A/N **

**This was written in two hours for Gamma Orianis's One Hour Challenge/Hardest Challenge Ever II.**

**I apologize if it's a bit rough, I haven't done this in a while.**

**DISCLAIMER: **

**I own only my twist to the storyline, this is J.K. Rowling's world and characters, I only borrow for fun.**

**Enjoy the story!**

**Prologue**

Rowena Ravenclaw's mind was racing; it often did, as she sat down in the small clearing within the Forbidden Forest. The sun was setting and her surrounds seemed to shift to become more sinister as darkness began to settle in; a fitting time and place for this meeting, she thought.

"You came." Rowena didn't turn towards the smooth voice that had spoken from the trees to her left, it belonged to Salazar Slytherin and she hadn't decided yet how forgiving she was going to be tonight. "I wasn't sure if you would."

"I wasn't sure that I would, either." Her voice was cold.

"You have every right to hate—"

"I do." Rowena cut him off with a sneer, rising to her feet. "I have every right to hate you, myself, this forsaken forest, and the school behind it."

"Rowena." Salazar moved into the clearing to stand across from her. "Allow me a moment to explain myself."

"A brief moment is all you will have, this is not the only place I must be tonight."

"I know, you are a woman with many responsibilities." His voice held a note of fondness that few had ever heard in it. "How is Helena?"

"She wonders why she has no father and why I never speak of him." Rowena did her best to hold her glare steady.

"Perhaps it is time you gave her answers." He stepped closer to the dark haired woman, towering over her small form.

"And where would I begin? How would I undo the damage of the stories she's been told?" Rowena leaned back to look him in the eye.

"With love; the knowledge that you loved me and I you." His eyes glistened, "And we her."

"She wouldn't believe that we loved her, a man who disappeared when she was three months old and never a word from since?" Rowena shook her head, "I can barely make her believe that I love her, let alone a man she hasn't heard from in eleven years."

"Let me tell her then, let me be a part of her life." Salazar took Rowena gently by the shoulders, "It's not too late, Rowena."

"It is, you know that it is." Rowena tried not to soften her gaze but feeling his touch, seeing the pain in those green eyes; it was too much for her. "I will always love you, Salazar, at least my memories of you, but your daughter will never have that. She's not capable of forgiveness, perhaps she gets it from her father."

"Perhaps she does." Salazar slid his hands down her arms to take her hands in his. "But maybe it's worth trying, worth a chance."

"Is it worth finding that she might know and hate you, and me, even more?"

"It is to me."


	2. Dark Beginnings

**A/N **

**This was written in two hours for Gamma Orianis's One Hour Challenge/Hardest Challenge Ever II.**

**I apologize if it's a bit rough, I haven't done this in a while.**

**DISCLAIMER: **

**I own only my twist to the storyline, this is J.K. Rowling's world and characters, I only borrow for fun.**

**Enjoy the story!**

**Dark Beginnings**

Helena paced the floor of the large kitchen, her blonde hair flipping from side to side as she walked, it was 8 o'clock at night on her eleventh birthday and she had still not received her letter. How had she not been on the top of the list? She was the daughter of a founder; she was practically a legend herself.

The sound of the front door opening made her jump, and call out, "Mother?"

"Yes, Helena." Rowena Ravenclaw strode into the room. "What is the matter, Helena? You are going to wear a rut into the floor."

"Are you aware of how long it would take for me to wear a rut? Years of endless pacing, years!" Helena looked over at her mother and saw the lines of genuine worry on the older woman's face. "I'm not really that worried, mother, I know my letter will come. I'm just being difficult."

"I know dear, I'm not worried either. You are exactly the sort of student Hogwarts needs." Rowena replied seriously, her face still set in an expression of concern.

"Well, if you're not worried then why are you so serious looking? Bad meeting?" Helena asked as she began pulling out the things to make tea.

"Not precisely bad, just not how I thought it would go." Rowena sat down at the kitchen table and watched as her daughter put a kettle over the fire.

"You never did tell me who it was with." The blonde girl accused over the jars of tea.

"I met a friend I haven't seen in several years." Rowena replied quietly, "You'll actually be meeting him tomorrow."

"I will?" Helena turned around to look at her mother.

"Yes, he's coming over for dinner."

"Exciting, we haven't had anyone over in ages." Helena said as she turned back to her tea.

"This friend of mine…" Rowena paused, thinking of the best way to introduce him. "You've heard of him before, you've heard some very hard to believe things about him."

"I have?" Helena turned back around, seeing the pained expression on her mother's face she walked over and took a seat across from her. "Who is it, mother?"

"Salazar Slytherin."

"You met with Salazar Slytherin?" Helena exclaimed in disbelief. "Isn't he banned from the school? Isn't he number one on you and your friends' list of those to be shunned? Isn't he a powerful dark wizard?"

"He is- He was." Rowena looked down at her hands on the table, "He… He and I used to be very close. He's reached out to me once again, and I would like for you to meet him."

"You would?" Helena raised an eyebrow at her mother, trying to think of a reasonable explanation of this sudden Slytherin appreciation.

"Yes, are you alright with that?" Rowena looked back at her daughter and saw several emotions pass across the girl's open countenance.

Helena thought for several long moments before saying slowly; "If you really want him to come over, if you think he's alright, then… Only if you really think it's a good idea to invite Salazar Slytherin to our house, then yes, I'm alright with that."

"I really would like him to, and he really is alright." Rowena rose to her feet, "I'm going to go and let Eldra know that we will have company tomorrow evening."

Helena nodded and watched her mother walk out of the room to find their house elf, still trying to think of explanations for her mother's invitation to Salazar Slytherin.

She stood back up and took the kettle off the fire; carrying it over to the big clay mug that already contained tealeaves she poured the hot water carefully into the cup. After she stirred the tea and pulled the bigger leaves out she carried the mug up the stairs to her room.

The rest of her night continued in a strange silence; she was used to the quiet but somehow things seemed even stiller than normal, her breath seemed softer, her mother and Eldra's footsteps below seemed to be muffled by something besides the wooden floor that separated the second level from the ground floor.

The hours drug by slowly, as if time was giving her a chance to catch up with herself, a chance to understand the reasoning behind her mother's strange behavior.

Possibilities crossed through her mind with finally a thought, so absurd it made her jump from her bed, went racing through her mind.

It was possible, Helena supposed, that her mother had once been as close to this man as she was to the other founders that Helena regarding as family. But then again, the look that had been on her mother's face… What if Salazar was or had been more than a friend to her mother? But really, even an old relationship of that nature couldn't really explain Rowena's acceptance of a self-proclaimed dark wizard.

This thought, unfortunately for Helena's heart, led to one that seemed, if it was possible, even more insane than the last; what if he was her, Helena's—

"No," Helena whispered, trying to stop herself before she could finish the thought. "That is impossible; completely ridiculous, Salazar Slytherin couldn't be my—No, that's not even worth finishing."

Helena sat back down on her bed, taking her head between her hands, "Sometimes I'm too imaginative for my own good." She whispered softly, that was the problem with not knowing who your father is, even the crazy ideas become possible, however improbable.

* * *

When Helena had woken the next day she had found that the house had been cleaned from top to bottom, every surface scrubbed and sparkling; a clear sign that Rowena had not slept a wink.

The rest of the day only offered more evidence to the woman's lack of rest; she had taken Helena to buy school supplies despite the fact that Helena's letter had still not arrived. They had gone from Diagon Alley to Embray Square to Helen Lane in search of things that Helena was relatively certain only seventh years required.

Rowena had spent the afternoon writing lesson plans for the entire next year and reviewing every seventh year Ravenclaw's profile marking down what exams they had struggled with the previous year.

Helena consequently spent her afternoon attempting to rid her mind of the awful idea that had come into her head the night before, she reminded herself constantly how insane it sounded, how crazy it was that her mother would have had a child with a wizard who practiced the dark arts.

By the time dusk fell and it was time to get dressed for their dinner with Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw had circles under her eyes and her daughter's head was filled with firm denial and a plan to be as cold to this strange friend of her mother's as possible.

"Helena." Rowena called from where she stood near the front door, "Will you ask Eldra if she rearranged the centerpiece as I requested?"

"She did." Helena replied, appearing at her mother's elbow. "You were very specific, are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, dear." Rowena's voice belied her words, she sounded shaken.

"Mother, I… should have asked you this morning… I mean, is there anything else you wanted to tell me about Salazar Slytherin?" Helena realized she sounded just as nervous as her mother.

"I—" Rowena was saved from having to respond as the door's knocker sounded.

"I'll be in the dining room." Helena said, trying to get a grip on her emotions, telling herself for the hundredth time how ridiculous the idea was.

Rowena nodded absently as she opened the front door, her thoughts returning to the last time the same man had stepped through that threshold; he had left with no word for six years.

"Hello, Salazar." She pulled the door open wide to reveal the tall, slender, blond man standing behind it.

"Hello, Rowena, you look lovely as always." His gaze was soft as he took her hand and kissed it gently.

"Helena's in the dinning room." Rowena said quickly, feeling like a clumsy teenager.

"Shall we join her?" Salazar offered the brunette his arm.

"Yes, it's down this hall—"

"I remember." He whispered softly.

Helena was rearranging silverware for no reason other than to have something to do with her hands when her mother walked in, arm in arm with a man who had to be at least six feet three. The small girl looked him over taking it in; his hair was the same shad of blonde as her own, his eyes a darker green than hers but with the same gold tint. Helena tried to banish the apparent similarities from her mind as soon as she noticed them.

"Hello, Helena." Salazar said, carefully letting go of Rowena's arm and walked slowly over to the table where Helena was standing.

"Hello." She replied lightly, extending her hand to the man. "I'm not sure what to call you."

"Salazar is fine." He took her hand and bowed slightly to her. "You have grown much since I last saw you."

"Since you last saw me? I was under the impression we had never met." Helena asked, looking to her mother.

"You were barely three months old the last time I saw you."

"You'll forgive me for not remembering I suppose." Helena said awkwardly, trying not to notice the wave of sorrow that washed over his face.

"Of course." Salazar grinned.

"Shall we sit?" Rowena asked, walking farther into the room and standing behind the chair at the head of the table.

Salazar pulled back a chair to Rowena's right for Helena then walking around to take one to the woman's left. "I like what you've done with the room."

"It was Helena's doing, I've never had much of an eye for décor. " Rowena said with a quick glance at Helena who was still studying Salazar as if he were the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

"I remember that." Salazar smiled.

"My mother doesn't have much of an eye for anything that's not academic." Helena said with a glance at her mother.

"You may be eleven now but that does not give you license to tease your mother." Rowena told her daughter humorously.

"Ah, that reminds me." Salazar said reaching into his coat pocket, "I have a gift for you."

"For me?" Helena raised an eyebrow as the man pulled a small coin purse from his pocket and handed it across the table to her.

"I'm sorry that this is the first birthday I've managed to be here for." Helena pretended she didn't see the look of shame in his eyes, that she wasn't reading more into the words.

Instead the girl opened the purse and reached inside, shocked when her hand went past where the bottom of the bag should have been and her fingers wrapped around a smooth rod-like object. She stood up and pulled the object from the bag, her eyes growing wide as inch-by-inch a Willow broom emerged from the bag.

"It's… It's beautiful." Her voice was unsteady as she held the broom in her hand looking from the engraved handle to the man across the table and a strange, ominous fear gripped her heart.

"I'm glad you like it." He smiled, like a dotting father.

"I can't accept this." Helena said, stuffing the broom back into the bag and holding it out to the man, "It's far too fine a gift for a girl you barely know."

"Well, I know you better than you know me." Salazar said, still smiling. "Please, I want you to have it."

"I'm sorry, I really can't accept it." Helena said firmly setting the coin purse in front of him on the table.

"Helena, please don't be rude to—"

"I'm sorry, but why would a man I've never actually met before just give me one of the nicest brooms that has ever been made?" Helena asked her mother sharply, her eyes pleading for there to be a simple explanation.

"Because…" Rowena look to Salazar for help, who looked back at her with worry before he turned back to Helena.

"Because I'm your father, Helena." He said the words so calmly, in such a sane fashion, as if he wasn't suggesting that Helena was the daughter of a man who had been shunned by the Wizarding World at large.

"That's not possible." Helena whispered, looking from her mother to Salazar and then back again, praying this was a dream, that she would suddenly wake up.

"It is possible, it's true, Helena." Rowena said, rising to her feet at the same time as Salazar. "I've been trying to think of a way to tell you for years."

"No, you said that my father was a man you fell in love with when you were young and stupid and then met again years later." Helena felt a wave of unknown emotions rush over her. "That can't be him. It can't be."

"It is him, Helena, please, sit down." Rowena moved towards her daughter, Helena backed away.

"No." Helena shook her head. "You couldn't have."

"Helena…" Salazar walked around the table towards her. "Please, I'm not like the stories you've heard."

"An entire world can't be wrong about everything." Helena said, backing towards the door of the dining room.

"They're wrong about most of it." Salazar said, trying to make her understand, "Please Helena, let me explain myself."

"No! I don't want to hear it." Helena turned around and rushed out of the room, running towards the front door, not sure where she was going, she just knew she had to get out of the house. She had to get away from them, from her mother, away from _him_, from even the idea of _him_.

Helena ran through the woods that surround their house until her feet wouldn't carry her any farther, she fell down on her knees, tears streaming down her face. She had finally gotten the answer she had always wanted and just as her grandmother had warned her before; the truth is rarely what you want to hear.

Her mind was still reeling half an hour later as she sat on the ground with her eyes shut tightly, every thought trying to run through her head at the same time. The tears had stopped a few minutes earlier but she hadn't yet wiped the evidence of them off of her face.

"My father is a dark wizard." She whispered, her voice broken by stress and emotion. "What does that mean for me?"


End file.
